Memory Quilts

About 2 years ago I started a conversation with someone about a memory quilt, made from saved t-shirts.  I started working up quotes and ideas.  I had made quilts from my children's clothes before...or really material left over from clothes I made them.  I have quilts made from the material from clothes that my mother made for me and one that her mother made from her clothes....but for the most part, what everyone was asking me was for the t-shirt quilts.

I'm not a huge fan of those...maybe because my kids always wore out their t-shirts and we swapped clothes with so many other kids that their t-shirts held other people's memories too.  But I want to quilt for other people, so to get orders...I had to be prepared.

I started putting out the word and doing some quotes.

Then, a friend contacted me after her husband had died.  She asked if I could make a quilt using his shirts, not a t-shirt quilt, but one made with a variety of fabrics, into a different pattern.  We got together, talked about her husband a bit and selected a pattern. I got the pattern here.  You can read about the journey of Chris' Quilt here.

I seemed to take forever...mainly because I didn't do a very good job of managing my time....and honestly...as I shared with Leah....the journey of making Chris' quilt was a bit daunting because of the grief journey of my own that I was traveling.  Chris' quilt was healing for me and I'll be forever thankful to Leah for allowing me to take this journey with her.

But last week, I finished the quilt and shipped it off to Leah.  As I was quilting it, I "wrote" words that Leah had requested into the quilting.  And I prayed.  As I quilted over and over, I felt God leading me to put other words into the quilt...words for Leah from Him.  I truly felt guided.  It was an amazing experience.

I had such a strong sense that God was leading me more than just to "write" words into Leah's quilt...He wanted me to do it for others.  Within minutes of posting a picture of the quote on Facebook, I was asked to do just that.  I'm praying that this is something that God continues to ask me to do.

You see, while working on the quilts, I think about the person behind the clothes, how they impacted the lives around them and how those left need to be comforted and that becomes the main prayer behind the quilt...how to offer comfort.

So I'm opening myself up to being used by God to wrap people in comfort.  If you are interested in a memory quilt, please contact me at boutwell_d@bellsouth.net for details.

I also am working on quilts made from baby clothes and working them into a new pattern, so the memory quilts aren't just to remember those that have passed away, but also the passage of time.

Here's some final pictures of Chris' Quilt, the quilting process.

 Pinning, preparing the layers.

 How I set it up to quilt it.

 Started using some 60 weight thread for the bobbin and didn't have to change bobbins as often...loved this!

 Also, to put the binding on, I wrapped the binding up and put it on one of the thread holders and then feed it into the machine.

 Here's the main theme of the quilt....God is love and He wants to wrap Leah up in that love.

 The flower was the last inspired words.  This was the last corner to finish up and God had me remember that Chris had always sent Leah flowers, so it just seemed to fit.

 In each of the white leaves, I "wrote" words that Leah had used to describe her husband, dates of importance, and names of those important to Chris...Jesus being one of those.

 I did make a mistake...well many...I never claimed to be an expert quilter!  But one of the leaves got turned wrong, but it's not real noticeable.

 I love the boarder.  I changed it up from the pattern, but I love it.

Our First Street Fair

For the past couple of months, Sally and I have been busy preparing for our first arts and craft street fair.  Sally had set up a small booth at a fashion show earlier in the summer and while she didn't sale anything there, she liked the idea and decided to give one of the local fairs a shot.

She bought some vintage, unfinished quilt blocks and quilt tops and we went to town making things with them.

Here she is at the Grinder's Switch Arts & Music Festival held in downtown Centerville, TN.  It started out to be rainy day, but it cleared up quickly.

I think this was her top seller, but ones with birds painted on them.  The younger crowd went straight for these.

My favorite was a vintage quilt top she found, made from all kinds of fabrics...their scraps I'm sure.  I didn't like it at first, but when I started quilting it, it became special.  I could just see all their lives in this quilt.  And I loved the pattern.

 She only sold one quilt, one that we didn't even have to do anything to and Grannie always said if you sell one quilt, the show was a success.  So...we are headed to our next show in November.  We need to add more Christmas themed items...but we have a good start already.